My new baby

I HAVE A new baby. She is cherry red. Her name is Genevieve. She is a Gretsch Broadkaster with a V stoptail bridge.

I. Am. In. Love.

When buying a new guitar, I am always fighting the "Want Versus Need" dilemma. Do I need a new guitar? Pffft. No. Do I want a new guitar? Bleep yeah! It's a struggle, this whole Dutch Calvinistic thing battling the dream of having a new guitar.

It's been a while since I've purchased a new electric. I fight the urge to buy stuff I don't really need all the time. But this was too good of a guitar to pass up. I own a music store. We are a Gretsch dealer. I play in a working band. Plus Plus Plus WAIT DON'T DO IT Plus Plus Plus .... bang. I pulled the trigger.

To finance this new project, I sold a beautiful Takamine 12-string acoustic. I was sad to see her go, but she found a great new home and I'm on my way to paying off Genevieve. I have two other electric guitars on the floor right now, my Reverend Flat Roc and a Jon Kammerer custom made beauty. Both are priced to sell, but I'm in no hurry to see them go.

A month or so ago, our Gretsch dealer paid us a visit and talked me into buying the Broadkaster. I am fortunate to have a supportive wife through all of our musical adventures, and she only rolled her eyes seven or eight times when we were talking about a guitar to fit my band and style of playing.

I've never owned a new hollow body, and certainly never a beauty like Genevieve. She has what Gretsch calls "FullTron" pickups, and they ring forever. The Cheeseburgers played a show Friday night in Hannibal in a huge and boomy room, and I couldn't believe how good Genevieve sounded through my Bugera tube amp. Every string and note was crystal clean and the sustain is mind-boggling. I even plugged it into an acoustic amp Saturday and I was stunned to hear the tone ... Genevieve may be with me on some of our HartLyss and other acoustic adventures.

I am pretty simplistic when it comes to electric guitar tone - I play rhythm guitar in a Cheesey cover band. But it's fun to experiment with sound and tone.

So take one guess at what I'll be doing a lot of this week, especially with two more huge Cheeseburger shows looming. You shouldn't have trouble hearing Genevieve roar at Fifth and Maine!